In One Hour, For Less Than a Buck, a Sensor Made of Jell-O and Foil Detects Acute Pancreatitis
If there were a distinction one could earn for practicing smart medicine on a shoestring, a UT grad student would be high in the running. Using a aluminum foil, gelatin, milk protein, and a cheap LED light--items that collectively sell for under a buck--he's created a fast, one-hour test for acute pancreatitis. This test is way faster than existing diagnostics for acute pancreatitis, a condition in which sudden inflammation of the pancreas can cause a good deal of pain, fever, shock, and occasionally death. The sensor is basically a battery with a two-tiered, enzyme selective switch. To test for acute pancreatitis, a bit of blood extract is dropped on a layer of gelatin and milk protein. If there's enough trypsin--an enzyme that exists in elevated levels in patients with the condition--it eats right through the gelatin/protein mix. Related ArticlesDarpa's Genetic Diagnostic Suite Will Know You're Sick Before You DoTiny Chip Made...